Ah Austria ... Did you know?

• It is a beautiful country.
• There are about 7.6 million people living in Austria.
• The present borders were defined at the end of World War I giving Austria 83,849 square kilometers (32,347 square miles) or a bit smaller than Maine and a bit larger than Scotland.
• The interior of Austria is divided into nine provinces, which are divided into communities -- approximately 2,320 in total.
• Austria is touched by 8 different countries. Can you name them?
• Like Switzerland, mountains are a big part of Austria (2/3s of the land surface)
• Austria also has the Blue Danube River. However, I've never seen the Danube blue.
• The capital of Austria is Vienna, one of the world's most beautiful cities with over 1.5 million inhabitants. It is also the largest Austrian city.
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• Because Austria is neutral, it refused authorization for NATO to fly over Austrian territory in connection with the bombing of Serbia.
• A few of these names should be familar: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Joseph Haydn, Johann Strauss, Sr., Johann Strauss, Jr., Christoph Gluck, Herbert von Karajan, Joseph Lanner, Gustav Mahler, Franz Schubert, Arnold Schönberg, and Sigmund Freud. All of whom were composers except the last who was the first psychoanalyst.
• Did you know that the Austrians invented the croissant? It was first made in Viennia to commemorate the defeat of the Turkish in the 1600s.
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• The countries that border Austria are: the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lichtenstein, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland.

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